


Changed

by navaan



Series: Changed [1]
Category: Iron Man: Armored Adventures
Genre: Gen, M/M, Realization, Redemption, Romance, Yuletide 2012
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-24
Updated: 2012-12-24
Packaged: 2017-11-22 04:51:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/606012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/navaan/pseuds/navaan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur Parks has gone into hiding, but he can't forget about the one person who had reached out to him when he needed it. And then he needs help again...</p><p>Slight, although seemingly one-sided Arthur/Tony.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Changed

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sophie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sophie/gifts).



> set after season 2

After all that had happened to him – and after some painful realizations about his life before he became the Living Laser – Arthur decided that it would probably be for the best to keep a low profile for a while. And as it turned out, it wasn't all that hard to do just that when you were able to travel at the speed of light. He could pass through the world of the normal people like a ghost if he chose to do so.

All his life he'd wanted nothing more than to be seen, to be accepted and maybe get a chance to prove his worth. That more than anything had led him down his path.

Now for the first time he felt that not being seen could actually be a blessing.

He wouldn't return to the world before he was ready to face it all again.

A.I.M. may still be looking for him – and there was no use denying that S.H.I.E.L.D had reason to still see him as a criminal. They had no reason to forget about the stuff he'd done.

Only Tony Stark knew that Arthur wasn't all bad. Only Tony knew he had realized how wrong he had been.

Only Iron Man knew.

Strange to think that his irrational hate for this person who had edged him on, who'd needled him with words to distract and ultimately stop him, had been so misguided. Strange to think that this person had been the only one to reach out and try to help him.

Although... Something had been different about Tony the last time they'd met. He had been hurt, too. Arthur couldn't forget about it. He thought that he'd recognized something of his own conflicted emotional state in the way Tony had been reacting to his return and his angry, misguided former self.

This time it had taken Tony time to trust him enough to come and help him. But he'd done it anyway. 

He liked to think it hadn't all been about saving the city from destruction...

One day, he'd like to be able to reach out and help Tony like he'd helped him.

One day, he just might...

In the meantime Arthur learned more about what it meant to be an actual living laser. His powers were at his disposal now and he learned to control them and himself. He spent some time actually reading up on some of the science, although he hadn't been able to understand even half of it at first. He'd never be a scientist. He hadn't been much more than a thug in the Maggia's ranks when he put on the harness, but he wanted to _understand_ what he was now. Because so much could go wrong. He'd destabilized once before and when he'd been split in half that could have ended badly.

Destabilization was something he didn't care to experience again. There had been nothing. 

He'd already lost so much time and now he wanted to catch up and not lose himself again. With practice he found out that he could to a certain extend destabilize his form and put himself back together at will, but it still scared him to try it very often.

He was so caught up in figuring out who he was now and what to do about it, that he spent most of his time exploring isolated labs and hiding away inside satellites. Something about space was familiar and soothed his mind.

In his preoccupation he lost touch with what was going on with the world. 

Until the day he saw Tony's face on television, clad in his suit without helmet and looking pretty banged up, his secret revealed to the public.

Arthur was glad to see he hadn't been alone when alien invasion had threatened New York and he wouldn't be alone now facing a world that knew he was Iron Man. But a niggling voice at the back of his mind was whispering: _You could have helped, too. You could have been there._

It was the same voice that so often made him doubt himself, make reckless decisions, and he shoved it away.

When the first signs of his body destabilizing again made themselves known, though, he couldn't ignore it. And there weren't many people he could turn to for help. 

& & &

He went to the place where Tony had been hiding his armory and found it abandoned.

 _Of course_ , he thought. _Stupid Arthur, you should have thought this through. Everyone knows he's Iron Man now._

There wasn't much time to think about it.

He hadn't really paid much attention to the news and didn't have the patience – and maybe not even the time – to go and search for Stark.

So he went to the only other place he thought was connected to Tony.

It took him less than seconds to get there, materializing in a blur right in the middle of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, agents whirling around with drawn weapons – that wouldn't be able to do much against him – and wide eyes. A redheaded woman was standing only feet away watching him with a calm, gauging expression. Fury was standing behind her, Agent Hill to his left, looking at him without giving anything away.

“Where is Tony Stark? I need help,” he said before anyone could move or say anything. 

“Arthur Parks,” Fury said. “We were waiting for you to show up again.” He motioned to the woman to stand down and Arthur felt this was going much better than it should have any right to go.

“ _Iron Man_ isn't here, Parks. But you are still a fugitive.” 

And suddenly the world went dark.

& & &

He woke up to voices around him. “He wasn't lying. His body is changing. Stark, I mean... I'm sorry, Mr. Stark. He had already made some calculations how best to help him last time.”

“Show me,” the voice of another man answered. “I see.”

Footsteps on a metal floor. More voices and a slight beeping sound. 

When the world came in focus a man was standing in front of the same glass cell he'd been held in before, watching him serenely. Arthur looked up at him and then around, but he was the only one there and he did look a little familiar, but Arthur had no idea where they could have met before. Maybe right here?

“Where is Stark?” Arthur asked. “I thought someone was...”

“My son is at college. Hopefully preoccupied with science and experiments and not getting himself into danger for a while.”

“Son?” It took him a moment to catch up. “You're...”

“I'm Howard Stark and I developed the tech that turned you into what you are now.”

“Tony said his father was a crazy scientist...” he mumbled.

Howard chuckled. “Well, that boy has to get it from somewhere. I suppose I'm to blame, yes. And I'm also responsible for your condition, but I think I can help you.”

So Tony wasn't even here. College. Arthur had trouble picturing Tony at college. But he'd been only a teenager when they had met – a very smart teenager in a metal suit – so maybe this was exactly where Tony should be. “So, Tony is okay?”

The man – Howard – studied him for a long, silent moment and then nodded. “He's okay. He's turning twenty soon and driving his teachers at MIT insane. Well, all teachers, but Reed Richards. They'll probably let him graduate early just to be rid of him. Although I wish they wouldn't,” he sighed. Then smiled at Arthur. “But lets talk about you, young man. Tony and Rhodey told me about you. You saved my son and I'm thankful you did.”

Arthur shook his head and could feel the energy around him flicker, making _him_ flicker and grow translucent for a moment. “He helped me. He always wanted to help me.”

“And now I'll help you,” Howard said decisively. “I'm theorizing that your body is changing, evolving. And if we do this right, you'll be okay.”

& & &

Three days later Arthur caught himself thinking that Tony hadn't turned up, yet. Then he chided himself for even thinking that. Tony had a life – and it seemed his dad was making sure he didn't spend all of it as Iron Man or even around S.H.I.E.L.D. 

He watched Howard at work, once again not sure he understood even half of it.

The red-headed woman from his first day on the Helicarrier had joined them today, silently keeping out of the way and just staring at him. It made Arthur nervous. It was as if someone was trying to look into his mind.

“This should have worked,” Howard said exasperated, going over some of his readings.

Arthur didn't need to look at him to know that they were slowly running out of time.

“You should call Tony,” the woman said, not moving from her place near the door and only tilting her head slightly into Howard's direction. “Extremis could be helpful.”

“Thank you, Miss Romanoff. I'll call him as a last resort. Lets try and let him spend at least some time at MIT.” 

She shrugged, obviously unconcerned.

But Howard was already looking at Arthur again. “And let us try something else.”

& & &

“You know what to do with yourself now?” Howard asked.

“I want to help,” Arthur answered before he could stop himself. What he'd really wanted to say was: _I want to help, Tony._

“How old are you?” Howard went on, fiddling with some cables he was attaching to the mechanism that was operating his glass contraption.

“Twenty-three.” 

“That's still plenty of time to turn your life around and do what you want.”

Arthur nodded. Half the time he had no idea what Howard was getting at.

& & &

“Now. Try to let yourself turn solid.”

“How?” Arthur was trying to concentrate on keeping his new photon body stable, also Stark had assured him he had nothing to be afraid of any longer. Before he knew it the cackling energy around him was gone and his body was as solid as that of any regular human being. “Wow,” he said. “That was easy.”

Fury was watching from behind the control panel, the redhead standing beside him again. “Good, good. So he's not dying anymore.”

“He's quite safe, actually,” Howard answered.

“He's still a criminal,” Fury said. “That he wants to change doesn't mean anything.” 

Arthur felt as if he was catching only half of a conversation. 

When Fury was turning to leave both Howard and the woman were exchanging pointed glances.

“What's going on?” Arthur asked, not sure he really wanted to understand.

“I was on the wrong side of the law once – and now I'm here,” the woman told him. “Fury just needs to know that he can trust you.” It sounded like advice. 

“I don't really care about what Fury thinks of me.”

“But maybe you care about what Tony Stark thinks of you.” She was gone, as silently and quickly as a shadow, before Arthur could ask another question. 

When he looked at Howard Stark's drawn expression, he said: “Maybe I do.” But he wasn't sure the man had heard him.

& & &

Alarms sounded through the Helicarrier and there was a loud crash that made the floor shake beneath his solid feet. 

He hadn't seen Howard since his condition had been resolved, hadn't seen anyone but some random agents for days. But suddenly there she was again, a blond broad shouldered man Arthur hadn't seen before at her side, looking at him with a serious expression. She dismantled the security system of his holding cell in seconds. 

“Why are you doing this?”

“Iron Man is in trouble,” the man said. “Victor Von Doom has set a whole army of Doombots on him and the Mandarin is out there, too. Doesn't look good.”

“You'll help,” the woman said decisively. “Betray us and I'll personally see that this will be the last mistake of your life.”

Arthur looked at the man uneasily, but he only shrugged and said: “I'd tell you to not mind her. But she usually means every word.”

“Who are you people?”

“We're friends of Tony. Call me Hawkeye.”

& & &

He reveled in the destruction, bouncing from Doombot to Doombot at the speed of light. He hadn't caught a glimpse of Iron Man yet, but Hawkeye was methodically taking out targets with his arrows, and he could see the redheaded woman fight nearby. The Helicarrier had taken another hit and was hovering over the bay with smoke rising up from one of the engines. 

Then he saw a shadow in dark armor in the air above him aiming a bolt of lightning at the sky – and then with a loud clang Iron Man crashed into the ground in the middle of the army of bots, all of them immediately turning towards him, ready to attack.

The black clad figure was aiming again, but Arthur was faster, quickly inserting himself between Tony and the lightning strike and absorbing the energy without any trouble, using his momentum to take out another robot, before it could attack. The black armored figure teleported away without a word. And behind him Tony was already fighting back again on his own. 

“Arthur Parks?” he asked, not stopping his motions, his voice the modulated sound Arthur always associated with Iron Man. “I didn't know you had resurfaced.”

He wasn't about to admit how nice it was to know that Tony _hadn't_ known, that Howard hadn't told him, that he hadn't known and not cared.

“We thought some backup would be welcome,” Hawkeye said, landing beside Tony in one gracefull motion and aiming an arrow at one of the last remaining Doombots.

“I'm not complaining.” Iron Man was up in the air again, effortlessly going back into the fight and taking the bot out before Hawkeye even got to shoot. “In fact, I'm glad to see you, Arthur. It's been a while.” 

& & &

“You were quite impressive,” Tony was saying, They were sitting in a big conference room on the Helicarrier. Tony wasn't wearing his armor, but was dressed in jeans and a rumpled dress shirt. He looked older than Arthur remembered, but good and healthy and whole. There had been a debriefing, a lot of arguing and some screaming, but nobody had insisted that he'd be taken back into his cell. “I'm glad you were on our side today.”

“I was glad I could help,” Arthur answered. “I owe you.”

“You don't.” Tony chuckled. “You really don't. You don't have to pay me back. I didn't really do anything. My dad helped you...”

“But I wanted to help you. That's why I came back.”

Tony's eyes went wide with surprise and then he looked up to carefully study Arthur. “Thank you then.”

They sat together in silence a little longer, before Tony started to move again. “I think I should go now. Get some rest. I have to be back at MIT tomorrow...” He winced a little when he got up, probably because of aching muscles or small injuries. He was suddenly all nervous energy. “See you around then, Arthur. Tomorrow before I leave, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

He watched him go, confused and a little nervous about what was going to happen to him now, when Hawkeye and Black Widow stepped from the shadows.

“Hurt him, and there are quite a few people who'll come after you,” Hawkeye said, taking a sip from a paper cup. “Just a fair warning.”

 _Oh,_ Arthur thought, suddenly realizing what both Widow and Hakeye must have recognized in him before. All his strung up emotions focusing on Tony for a reason. “I won't. We're not... ” He'd be glad to just be friends now that it seemed a possibility. 

“Right. Strictly need to know.” Hawkeye waved him off. “Whatever it is, _I_ don't need to hear it.”

Arthur nodded.

“Just don't hurt him. He's developed some trust issues, but he has just learned again to work with people who aren't Pepper and Rhodey. So don't mess up.”

Black Widow was looking at him sternly. And Arthur nodded.

His life had changed in just a few hours. 

And finally it seemed for the better.


End file.
